The STAGE Lab's creative process takes precedence over the individual process; it is team-driven and focuses on the work as a whole. This does not inhibit individual creative expression; on the contrary, everyone's ideas, talents and contributions are the very foundation of the process, and STAGE fosters an extremely supportive and collegial atmosphere that is playful, liberating and creative.

The best way to think of us is: scientific research lab meets devised theatre company. This engenders a more complex development than that of conventional theatre-making but leads to work that is utterly original and exceedingly imaginative. Those accepted as fellows will be taught our methods and learn them “on the job.” If you prefer short-term projects, already have an established work process or want to do things in a certain way, this is not the program for you. Again, please assess yourself honestly and apply only if you are certain you have the personality, willingness and ability to give over to our Lab’s collective work process.

We are different from a traditional theatre company in the following ways:

The mindset of our Lab is much closer to the mindset of a science laboratory than it is to that of a theatre company. In a traditional theatre-making process, each participant may work from their own philosophy and with their own method, with a strong sense of ownership about and satisfaction from their personal contribution to the work. In contrast, we work as a team and follow the Lab’s work methods, with the flexibility and patience to see where our iterative creative process takes the work, not where we want the work to go.

We take time to play and give ourselves the freedom to fail and make discoveries. It is sometimes not possible to find enough time and room for such exploration in the traditional way of making theatre.

We are excited by our productions, but we are equally excited about the creative process that leads to them: the explorations, the detective work, the uncertainties, even the failures and what we learn from them.

In traditional theatre-making, the roles of the participants are usually highly specialized, and each person’s boundaries and expectations are well-defined. While there is a director at the helm of STAGE projects, our work process allows you to go beyond the limits of your specialization(s) and to contribute to the creation of the story well beyond your core skill set. As an active participant in collectively building the story, you are immersed in the development of the entire script. In our process, we find taking much more time with far less structure to be freeing and exhilarating — as well as essential for making new discoveries.

Our work is thematically linked to science and technology, and technology figures prominently in the staging of our work.

We are different from a typical science lab in the following ways:

Fellowship participants are provided an opportunity to gain additional education and training in a unique type of research. This is not research in the established academic sense; it involves practical engagement in every aspect of creating theatrical work about science and technology in content (subject matter) and form (staging that involves technology).

The STAGE Lab’s mission is not entirely about science communication. We are striving to create new methods of thinking about art and science and technology. How can each discipline contribute to and enrich the other? Where does a true blend of these disciplines take us?

We want to create new stories that are relevant to the lives we lead, lives influenced by science and technology at every turn. What is more, we are using technology — the language of the present and the future — to tell these stories in new ways.